...but I am in the market for a car in Arizona (within ~25miles from 85043). I've seen several that I like from a place called Cactus Jack's, and there are very few (negative) reviews from them.

I was wondering if anyone from reddit has purchased a vehicle from them, and what their experience with the company/car was like? From what I've managed to read, they sell "lemon" cars... Although this has been known to happen at even reputable dealerships when it comes to used cars.

[I have a budget of $5k cash that has to include sales tax, temp plates, title, etc. If anyone can even point me in a good direction, that'd be cool too. :)]

Edit: Thank you to everyone that's responded! :D I will take your guys' advice and check AutoTrader biweekly as well as Craigslist daily. I'll be sure to take along either my dad or close friend that are both knowledgeable about cars. And I'm going to keep looking until I find a car that my wingman and I find reasonable and suitable for me, being a first-time car-own and all. :)

EDIT 2 Jan 18th 2013 - GUYS I GOT SCAMMED BY A CRAIGSLIST AD. My post on this terrible fucking shit is here. If anyone can offer any advice... please. I am desperate.

If your budget is that low, don't buy from a dealership (especially not Cactus Jacks). Check out Autotrader and Craigslist. And always insist on swinging the car by a shop before purchasing. Even if you can't afford the checkup, their reaction will give you an idea of the confidence they have in the vehicle.

I've checked Craigslist but two people have already tried to scam me. And all of the big dealerships are assholes - they won't work with my budget, and I'm just a poor college student so I don't even make minimum monthly pay to finance a vehicle (which I would rather not do).

Have you looked at Autotrader? I checked out some cars from private sellers on there and even test drove some. They always seemed to be great quality. I ended up successfully talking down a salesman at a dealership quite a bit and took that route. But I'd usually swear by doing a private seller.

Also, Craigslist takes some determination. The best deals on there disappear really fast. You've gotta be on top of it. But if you are, you can find some ridiculous prices.

I don't know if it's maybe because I'm a female college student, but yeah, the dealers were trying to bullshit me. No way in hell was I going to pay $4800 for a shitty little 2000 Cavalier! I had gone alone (stupid, I know), and I was so pissed with the prices they were giving me and how they wouldn't work with my budget.

As a fellow (guy) college student who actually fell for the whole, $4800 for a shitty little 2000 Cavalier deal, (mine was actually 2003, yay.) I'd say the above is great advice. Using Autotrader is the way to go. Dealerships will just screw you. Esp. being a younger female, and going alone.

Some additional suggestions I might make:
Do your research beforehand, Always have a wingman/wingwoman, and worse-comes-to-worse, walk away. It may be difficult, but the right car is out there. Don't let the seller convince you otherwise. And definitely go to a shop, anywhere you feel you can trust. Have THEM tell you what shape it's in. -- Best of luck out there!

I'm sorry that happened to you! :( Being ripped off is not fun...
And thank you for the suggestions. I intend on bringing my dad with me to view the vehicles from Craigslist (he used to work on jet engines in the Air Force), or possibly my good friend who used to own his own custom car shop. :)

Try Bueno Used Cars in Downtown Phoenix. I've bought 2 cars from them, and my family has also bought a truck from them. They have decent vehicles, pretty good prices and will DEF work with you on weekly, bi-weekly or monthly car payments.

I've contacted a few more sellers (private owners, not dealerships) since I posted this on reddit, and a few of them have responded back.
I've also found a car on Autotrader that I made an appointment to test drive this Friday. :)
So we'll see how it goes!

If you are not the type who likes to have grease under her fingernails I would suggest taking friends who are car nuts who work on their own cars have them go with you to look at cars to make sure they are not clapped out.

just in case you did not already know, you do not have to pay sales tax when you purchase from a private seller. sometimes that's a nice factor that you might be able to use to negotiate when buying from a dealer.. I'm not saying that it will help in all cases, but it doesn't hurt to mention as part of your purchase decision.

I think there are a few cities northwest of the valley that you don't have to pay sales tax either. I'm not 100% sure, but i've heard wickinburg does this????

I have a friend who works at Centennial on 56th street and van buren. Eric Wilson is his name, www.Teamcentennial.com, 602-683-2116 and he has helped a few friends of mine. They are a little different though. They have a bunch of cars you can pick from but you can also tell them what you want and they will find it for you.

Is that 5K in cash or on credit? I ask because for a good 15 years I never bought a car from a dealership. Everything was privately sold/bought through autotrader. Ive had great experience using that site/magazine and highly recommend it.

I just sold my 90year old grandmans 1989 Nissan Maxima on Autotrader about 6 months ago. The car was in prestine condition, serviced at the dealership the entire time she owned it. It did need a little bit of work, but I sold it for $2000. It only had 89k miles on it and could easily go another 100K. Autotrader has some great deals, just make sure you do all the legwork before you pay (have it checked out by YOUR mechanic, not his, do a lemon check on it and also a car fax to see if its been in any accidents) ive bought 6 cars off of Autotrader since 1996 and have gotten great deals on all of them.

I would honestly just look for a decent car on craigslist or another forum or directory. Find a car that you like, and take it to a local mechanic. Most mechanics will do a once over, and even drive it around the block for you at no charge. We found a Subaru from a private seller, and saved a lot of money by having someone look at it for us.

I've been searching Craigslist for a couple weeks now, and twice they've tried to scam me. I don't know if I trust private sellers just because they can lie or make up services, especially if they don't have papers for their claims. However, I will absolutely have a mechanic look the car over! Thanks for the advice!

Thanks for responding! That seems to be the gist of the reviews I was able to find... Also found out they have like, 60 complaints filed against them on the BBB (Better Business Bureau), and people are petitioning to take them down.

Reiterating what has already been said, check out craigslist. On top of that, bring someone that knows about cars with you. If you haven't the slightest idea about cars, having someone that can ask the questions that you don't know about is invaluable as to whether or not you will be getting a good deal or not.

Over the years,I've bought a few used cars from Sun City folks.They sell a couple of small local papers for Sun City at some of the shopping centers with drug stores.Might be worth the drive to see if there's something out there.
eta:

The last one was for my step-daughter and it was a Caddallac Catera with less than 70000 miles for 3500.